Polishing up my Solar System
So I currently have 300w(2 each 150w panels), a Samlex 30a Controller. It feeds 4ea. 6v batteries in series and paralleled. My rig came prewired for Solar. It has the Samlex panels and the Samlex w...
Forum Discussion
Almot wrote:
"Ass-uming" 12V panels...
#1: It depends on your criteria of "good" and your budget. Off the top of my head, EP 30 will do, subject to input volts limit (BFL probably remembers that number). Morningstar Tristar 45 will be nice, for much more money.
#2: Controllers normally have ONE input for panels, i.e. Pos and Neg. Any combining of panel wires is normally done on the roof waay before the controller. In case of series it's just plugging panels pigtails one into another.
#3: Normally, panel pigtails are #12 or #10. Plenty thick for series, not enough for parallel 3*150W.
More answers to your answers!
#1. My budget is actually flexible since I’m going to be doing this over few months. If something is $300.00 more and there is a night and day improvement, then yes. If something is $300.00 more and there is a fractional improvement, then obviously, no.
#2. The installer of the panel did not combine the solar panel wires on the roof, nor did they utilize the factory installed collector box. They actually ran the panel wires under the factory installed box for one reason or another and I really can’t tell how they are gathered prior to the controller input.
#3. I assume mine are #10 as that is what Samlex currently supplies with 150w panel. I will be running 3-150w in parallel so I assume we will need to gather them in a box on the roof, combine them and come out with a 8ga or 6ga to the controller
#4. Don’t know if MC4 is what is with mine as they combine in the truss area.
#5. The #8ga wire that currently exits to the controller and goes to the battery. Can that be used as a “the wire” that comes from the panels after they are gathered and goes into the Panel input on the controller?
#4: Did you mean "MC4 extension cables"? Yes. Panel pigtails - not really, because they are normally soldered to the panels. Yes, there are #8 extension cables with the same MC4 connectors (again, "assuming" you have MC4 since you didn't tell this). No, #8 is not necessary for series 3*150W, but for parallel you might need to combine pigtails into #8 or #6 before routing into the trailer.
#5: Will hardly affect in series. In parallel you might need combiner box and #6-#8 cable.
